AHL players OK with PED testing

Published 9:43 pm, Tuesday, January 29, 2013

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Only in hockey, it seems, can a new drug-testing program be proposed and the players don't seem to be concerned.

The new collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and its players association expands testing for performance-enhancing drugs, or PEDs, to the minor leagues.

"Our players association and ourselves have been in agreement that we would like to see it happen," AHL president Dave Andrews said, "but we weren't in position to do it without the NHL's support. We wanted to dovetail into their program."

Several All-Stars questioned about the prospect of PED testing were in support of the program, whose implementation is still in the beginning stages.

More Information

"We should be doing what the NHL is doing," said Quintin Laing, 33, a forward for the Abbotsford Heat and in his 13th season of professional hockey. "I don't think it's an issue down here with guys. It's a good thing to test. Guys are going to welcome it."

"Whatever they think is right for the league," said Bobby Butler, the Albany Devils' all-star representative. "Hopefully none of that is going on."

The NHL began drug testing in 2005. First-time violators are suspended for 20 games. A second offense calls for a 60-game suspension. A third violation results in a lifetime ban, although a player can apply for reinstatement after two years.

Only a handful of NHL players have been disciplined for positive tests.

"It's a good thing for hockey," said Martin St. Pierre, 29, a player for the Rockford IceHogs. "It keeps it clean. You've seen in other sports what's happening, what's coming out years after. I don't think hockey will have an issue."

"I don't think it's ever going to hurt a sport," said Jeff Taffe, an 11th-year pro playing with the Hershey Bears. "In the culture these days, everything's turning toward that. Personally, I haven't seen anything in the way of steroids or anything like that, but they've got to look into it, maybe prevent it for a future."

So have any of the players been suspicious of others in the AHL using banned substances?

"With the young guys and how they develop quick, who knows?" St. Pierre said. "It's not my position to say who I think it is or who I think it's not. The training these days is pretty intense. Guys develop pretty quick. As far as natural strength and whatnot, that's their own issue. Guys who get caught will have their own issues, the they've-been-warned kind of thing. I don't think it will be an issue."

"The chances of players getting called up and having a random test, (a positive result) could ruin your career," said Laing, who has played 79 career NHL games. "Guys don't take that chance. I know when I was in Washington I got called up, and two days later I was being tested. It was part of a random test. Guys don't need that, guys don't do it. We welcome it if they start doing testing."